1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a cyclone separator for use in a suction apparatus of a hand-held power tool, in particular of a motor-driven drilling or chiseling tool or of a saw. The cyclone separator includes a dirty air inlet and a suction ventilator for aspirating through suction opening means, which is connected with the dirty air inlet, suction air that carries abrasion particles produced during operation of the hand-held power tool. Further, there is provided a pure air outlet for letting out purified air. A vortex chamber is arranged between the dirty air inlet and the pure air outlet and into which the dirty air inlet opens substantially tangentially. By providing a pure air extractor connected with the pure air outlet, a swirling stream is generated. A particle outlet connects the vortex chamber with a collection chamber.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Cyclone separators of the type described above are used for collecting and disposing abrasion particles, such as drillings, dust particles, saw dust, etc., which are produced during operation of a hand-held power tool. A cyclone separator permits to completely eliminate filters or use them only for fine dust. This, in turn, permits to operate a power tool for a long time without a need to replace filters. The emptying of the collection chamber takes place within large intervals, as its volume is selected to be relatively large.
German Publication DE 198 27 173 discloses a cyclone separator for a hand-held power tool. The separator includes an immersion pipe that projects in a cylindrical chamber in which a vortex is generated. The vortex presses the aspirated abrasion particles against the cylindrical inner wall of the chamber, and the particles move, under the gravity force through an open end side of the chamber into a collection container.
A drawback of the known cyclone separator consists in that it properly functions only when it is oriented in a predetermined direction in space. As soon as the open side of the chamber lies, with reference to the gravity force, above the opening of the immersion pipe, the abrasion particles would not fall into the collection container, rather large particles would move through the immersion pipe to the pure air outlet. Thus, at a particular use of a hand-held tool, e.g., overhead use or bottom use, the separation efficiency of a cyclone separator can be close to a zero.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a cyclone separator in which the foregoing drawback is eliminated, and a satisfactory separation is achieved independently of orientation of the separator in space.